COVID-19 related antiviral drugs are less adsorbable on sediment under alkaline and high cation conditions

Xin Xu; Rong Zhu; Yun Zhang; Shannon L Bartelt-Hunt; Hua Zou; Chen Chen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163736

COVID-19 related antiviral drugs are less adsorbable on sediment under alkaline and high cation conditions

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 20:883:163736. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163736. Epub 2023 Apr 28.

Authors

Xin Xu¹, Rong Zhu¹, Yun Zhang², Shannon L Bartelt-Hunt³, Hua Zou⁴, Chen Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
² School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China. Electronic address: zhangyun@jiangnan.edu.cn.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Peter Kiewit Institute, Omaha, NE 68182-0178, United States.
⁴ School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China.
⁵ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ecological Environment Simulation and Protection, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Guangzhou 510535, China. Electronic address: chenchen7@scies.org.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented usage and elevated environmental concentrations of antiviral drugs. However, very limited studies have reported their sorption characteristics on environmental matrices. This study investigated the sorption of six COVID-19 related antivirals on Taihu Lake sediment with varied aqueous chemistry. Results showed that the sorption isotherms for arbidol (ABD), oseltamivir (OTV), and ritonavir (RTV) were linear, while the Freundlich model was the best-fit for ribavirin (RBV) and the Langmuir model for favipiravir (FPV) and remdesivir (RDV). Their distribution coefficient, K_d, varied between 5.051 L/kg to 248.6 L/kg with the sorption capacities ranked as FPV > RDV > ABD > RTV > OTV > RBV. Alkaline conditions (pH 9) and elevated cation strength (0.05 M to 0.1 M) decreased the sorption capacities of the sediment for these drugs. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the spontaneous sorption of RDV, ABD, and RTV was between physisorption and chemisorption while FPV, RBV, and OTV were mainly physisorption. Functional groups related to hydrogen bonds, π - π interaction, and surface complexation were implicated in the sorption processes. These findings enhance our understanding about the environmental fate of COVID-19 related antivirals and provide basic data for predicting their distribution and risk in the environment.

Keywords: Antiviral drugs; COVID-19; Influencing factors; Sorption; Taihu Lake sediment.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Antiviral Agents*
COVID-19*
Geologic Sediments
Humans
Oseltamivir
Pandemics
Ritonavir

Substances

Antiviral Agents
Ritonavir
Oseltamivir